Golisano said Monday he will be in Harrisburg on Oct. 4-5 to condemn a proposal to move Pennsylvania from a winner-take-all system to one that allocates electoral votes based on the winner in each congressional district.

“We’re very adamant about this conversation,” Golisano said, knocking Pennsylvania’s proposed switch. “We think that’s even worse than the winner-take-all rule because the politicians are constantly revising the [congressional] districts.”

Instead, Golisano will push for the National Popular Vote initiative, a 50-state effort to award all of each state’s electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide.

His appearance will coincide with a statewide radio and newspaper campaign advocating the National Popular Vote initiative.

Golisano would not say how much he’s spending, but he acknowledged plans to duplicate the effort in other unnamed states in the near future.

“I will be doing the funding of the media campaign,” he said. “I’ve done it before, and I’m willing to do it again.”

Golisano boasts a colorful political background. He’s a registered Republican, but is founding member of the Independence Party of New York, and contributed $1 million to the Democratic National Convention in 2008. He reportedly spent $90 million of his own money in his three failed bids for governor — all as an independent.

Since the contentious 2000 presidential election, when Democrat Al Gore won the most popular votes but lost the election to Republican George W. Bush, the National Popular Vote initiative has introduced bills in state legislatures across the nation, including Pennsylvania.

The bill has been enacted in nine states possessing 132 electoral votes, but it will only take effect once ratified by states with at least 270 electoral votes — the minimum needed to win the presidency. If that occurs, the candidate who wins the popular vote in each of the states in the compact would be guaranteed the presidency.

Though the effort has maintained substantial viability as the lone credible alternative to the Electoral College, particularly among Libertarian-minded conservatives, it took a substantial hit last month when all but one member of the Republican National Committee voted for a resolution denouncing the initiative.

Since then, many GOP-controlled legislatures have tabled their respective National Popular Vote bills.

In South Carolina, several Republican legislative co-sponsors have since withdrawn their support. And in Minnesota, the bill is considered dead in committee.

Still, Golisano’s planned Harrisburg appearance is the clearest indication yet that the Pennsylvania proposal to award electoral votes based on congressional districts has become a national concern.

Critics say it could radically affect the 2012 presidential campaign and could be used as a road map for other GOP-controlled states.

And though supported by Gov. Tom Corbett, the plan has been roundly criticized by old guard party stalwarts.

Such critics include state GOP Chairman Rob Gleason, who believes he can win the state for the GOP nominee and wants all 20 electoral votes. In addition, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions has argued the switch would make some Pennsylvania congressmen more vulnerable.

Though neither of the leading GOP presidential hopefuls have expressed an opinion on the proposed Pennsylvania change, key fundraisers for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry differ on the Pennsylvania plan.

“It makes a lot more sense to say that if you win the state, you win the electoral votes,” said Brian Ballard, a Florida attorney and influential Romney fundraiser. “My sense is that winner-take-all systems, especially in presidential primaries, seem to be the best true gauge of who the better candidate is.”

But Bob Schuman, chairman of the super PAC Americans for Rick Perry, argued that splitting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes between the parties is “better than walking out with none.”

Schuman also discounted the argument from Gleason and others that the proposed change would weaken the GOP’s ability to hold congressional and state legislative majorities.

“We worked too hard to get that [congressional] majority, and there’s a lot of thought that we can expand the majority,” he said.

Democrats have slammed the proposal to award Pennsylvania’s electoral votes based on winning congressional districts, saying it’s a thinly veiled attempt to derail President Barack Obama’s hopes for re-election. Democratic presidential candidates have taken Pennsylvania in the past five elections.

However, Democrats are in the minority in both the state House and Senate. If Corbett and other legislative supporters are able to make the switch, the Keystone State could become a template for other GOP-controlled states looking to solidify their control.

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